gospel opportunities · federal election is that of same-sex marriage. the federal liberal-national...

BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHIN THE STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

“GLORIFYING AND ENJOYING GOD AS CHRIST-LIKE COMMUNITIESTRANSFORMING OUR NEIGHBOURHOODS, OUR NATION AND OUR WORLD.” MAY-JUNE 2016

Gospel opportunitiesin our PCNSW schools:

The first of our two-part four-page series

Moderator’s Federal election warning:Think carefully about same-sex marriage

surrogacy:

Why it is a bad idea

all in the (Barnes) FaMily:Peter preaches while his son is ordained

FroM the BiBle:

Gentleness and Peace

celeBrating a new church plant at green square

2 The Pulse The Pulse 3

Bi-monthly magazine of The Presbyterian Church in the State of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

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Editorial Page

2 The Pulse

Editorial with Jeoffrey falls

News

A focus on educationDuring February and March, I spent a very pleasurable time driving to all our country schools: Muswell-brook, Nambucca Heads, Grafton, Casino, Armidale and Bathurst, spending time with our Principals, and hearing about the work of the gos-pel in our country schools. It was tremendously encouraging to see strongly committed Christian lead-ers speaking passionately about the work of Christ in their schools.

On 14 May, the Moderator, The Rt. Rev. Kevin Murray, will be convening a Forum involving all our Principals, Chairmen, and Chaplains (or as many who can at-tend). This will be a first, and arises from the decision by the 2015 General Assembly to establish a Special Committee to Explore Educational Activities.

The objects of the Special Committee are: (1) to explore the current nature of the Pres-byterian Church’s involvement in education in NSW; (2) clarify the Church’s mission as it relates to its educational activities; and (3) to make recommendations to the 2016 Assembly concerning matters and the po-tential development of the Church’s educa-tional activities.

We will be bringing key insights from this Forum to you in the next Pulse edition.

At the present time, over 4,300 students are being educated across the Church’s eight schools. All are financially sound and all are educating students to the highest academic standards and within a Christian worldview.As highlighted by one school attending the Forum: “Calvin’s concern for the education of children took the shape of the school…providing for teaching at both secondary and tertiary levels, and the compulsory, free education for the poor. In an age when schools for girls were rare, his support for universal education demonstrated the effect of centring humanism on biblical concep-tions of humanity, all of whom were imme-diately ‘present in God’. It was in Scotland that the Calvinist passion for education took its greatest root, and it was the Presbyterian Church that led the mission to educate all children, irrespective of social background.

The Church’s mission to education is as important today as it was in the

16th century. The Rev Conrad Nixon, our Senior Chaplain at The Scots College, writes: “The growth of secularism within Australian society, coupled with

increased social fragmentation and a resultant sense of alienation,

places Church schools in a quite remarka-ble position. In one sense, it seems anach-ronistic in twenty-first century Australia that Church schools remain so prominent on the educational landscape. Roughly one-third of school students in Australia attend a church-affiliated school, and over the past decade the proportion has been growing rather than declining.”

Due to the size of the topic, we will be look-ing at the Presbyterian Church’s approach to education over the next two Pulse maga-zines. In this edition, our Editor, Karen Forman, is focusing on our four Assembly schools in Sydney, Bathurst and Armidale. Our congregational schools at Casino, Grafton, Nambucca Valley and Muswell-brook will be covered in the next edition.

Each story focuses on one aspect of the school in its gospel mission. In this edi-tion, we look at the value of girls’ education with a Christian worldview at PLC Sydney; chaplaincy and SRE (Christian studies) at PLC Armidale; community outreach at The Scots School Bathurst; and gospel mission and chaplaincy at The Scots College.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

I am pleased to say that we received great encouragement from our focus on domes-tic and family violence in our last Pulse (March-April 2016), including some letters, which we will be including in this and fu-ture editions. While not all letters can be included, we are pleased to receive your feedback, which we appreciate.

As we were about to go to print, the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced the Federal Election will be held on 2 July 2016. Important statements by our Mod-erator, Rt. Rev. Kevin Murray, and Rev. John McClean, Vice Principal at Christ College, are included on page 3.

In His service.

In October, have your say in the 2016 National Church Life Survey

The 2015 General Assembly has required all congregations to take 20 minutes before, during or after one of their Sunday services in October 2016 to participate in the 2016 National Church Life Survey. An invitational pack has recently been sent to every congre-gation asking them to confirm the number of

forms they will require to ensure that every person expected to attend church on the cho-sen day is able to provide feedback.

This initiative is being coordinated by the General Manager, Jeof Falls, and we ask that all congregations liaise with Jeof and provide their information directly to him by email to [email protected] or by phoning Suzanne Jensen in the General Office on 1300 773 774.

This national survey is only possible with the joint participation of thousands of churches

nationwide. Strong commendations have been received from national and state lead-ers of many denominations, including our own. The surveys are available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Dinka, Italian, Korean, Tongan and Vietnamese. The Presbyterian Church in NSW is excited to be part of this opportunity. We strongly encourage every-one to take a few minutes in October to par-ticipate, and we will be providing feedback from the results in 2017.

www.2016ncls.org.au

Presbyterian Church in NSW Moderator Rt. Rev. Kevin Murray has called on church members to think very carefully about how they cast their vote in the upcoming Federal election.

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, officially announced the election for July 2 on May 8, putting an end to several months of speculation.

Mr Murray alerted Church members to the implications which the election result would have for marriage. The Liberal National party room has agreed to hold a national plebiscite on the introduction of same-sex marriage, if re-elected.

The Prime Minister, who is personally in fa-vour of changing the Marriage Act, has con-tinued to support the proposal for a plebiscite.

The ALP, in contrast, has a policy to intro-duce same-sex marriage. The Opposition leader Mr Bill Shorten has repeated that commitment several times. In his budget reply speech on May 5 he repeated that Parliament would “within our first 100 days of government — vote to make mar-riage equality a reality.” The ALP National Conference in July last year resolved that if the matter came to the Parliament, Labor MPs would have a free vote, but that after 2019 they would be bound to vote for mar-riage redefinition.

The Greens and several of the independent Senators also support marriage redefinition.

The recent Federal budget makes allow-ance for the marriage plebiscite. In Senate estimate hearings on May 5 the Attorney-General, George Brandis, affirmed that the government intended to hold a plebiscite. It is unclear if a plebiscite will be held at the end of 2016 or early 2017.

Australian Christian Lobby Managing Direc-tor Lyle Shelton has welcomed a plebiscite. He has warned that changing the Marriage Act would impact far more Australians than just ministers.

The last General Assembly of the Pres-byterian Church of Australia in Sep-

tember 2013 declared that “same-sex marriage” will never truly be marriage, and that its introduc-tion would “reduce the respect in which marriage is held and

further legitimise the procurement of children for same-sex couples” and

“be very likely to encroach on freedom of religion in Australia”. It called on Church members to oppose the introduction of any legislation for same-sex marriage.

Same-Sex Marriage: Don’t Wait Till After the ElectionoPiNioN By KeviN Murray

We all need to pay particular attention to the forthcoming Federal election. Every time there is a Federal election we each cast our vote according to the position of the parties on a range of issues. At this election we are confronted with a number of issues that impact our nation. There are things like refugees, housing affordability and the economy.

But how often do we let social policy and the social fabric of our nation determine who we vote for?

One of the key issues at the forthcoming Federal election is that of same-sex marriage. The Federal Liberal-National Coalition has promised that if re-elected a plebiscite will be held to gauge the opinion of the voting public. With that in mind it’s easy to think that we should wait to consider the issue of same-sex marriage after the Federal election. But that would be a mistake. The various po-litical parties are gearing up right now so that it will be an issue both at the election and any plebiscite that might be held.

We know for example that on polling day one of the major political parties intends to target the polling booths of the members of Parliament from all of the major parties who have declared themselves to be against same-sex marriage. Please make no mis-

take. This will not be your usual Federal election. The issue of same-sex marriage will be front and centre.

Please make sure that before you cast your vote you know where each of the parties stand. Each of us should make the time to learn what each party is promising on this issue because it is one that could pro-foundly affect our life as a nation for many many decades.

For that reason we each have a greater-than-usual responsibility to know what each party is proposing on the issue of same-sex mar-riage. Consider what they are each offering:

“The Greens have put a Private Members Bill before parliament that would remove discrimination from the Marriage Act and give same-sex couples the right to marry and allow for overseas same-sex marriages to be recognised in Australia.” Australian Greens

“We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ him-self taught that in the beginning God creat-ed mankind – male and female, and meant husband and wife to live together honorably in a lasting, loving, lifelong, faithful rela-tionship.” Christian Democrats

“I promise that within a 100 days of a La-bor government being elected that I lead, I shall move in the Parliament of Australia for marriage equality for Australians.” Opposi-tion Leader, Hon. Bill Shorten, Labor Party.

“I can absolutely guarantee to you that if my government is returned there will be a plebiscite on same-sex marriage after the election, and if the plebiscite is carried then same-sex marriage will be law.” Prime Min-ister, Hon Malcolm Turnbull

One of the things that constantly frustrates me about the level of public debate in Aus-tralia is that so often public policy is shaped by short answers and slogans. We need to make sure that we are not swayed by sim-plistic answers and think long and hard about the issues involved. What we do will affect many generations to come.

Think carefully before voting: ModeratorBy JohN MccleaN


News News

First came the vision, then a re-quest, then a confirmation. These stages lead to Woy Woy Presbyte-rian Church receiving the desire of its heart: the commencement of an English as a Second Lan-guage ministry.

In 2012 Session Clerk, John Baxter, at-tended a conference run by Ministry & Mission’s Cross Cultural Ministry Team at the Presbyterian Theological College. As a result, John saw the rich potential in this ministry for our congregation, which longed to connect with the community, and to grow.

During this time, we heard from a local Christian (Yan Luan), who had been host-ing a Chinese speaking Bible-study group at her home. Yan wished to further assist her fellow Chinese-speakers who were new to Australia. A member of a different church at the time, Yan heard on the grape-vine that Woy Woy Presbyterian might be calling a new minister of Chinese origin. She contacted the church, and hence be-came instrumental in the development of our ESL ministry.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Siu, a graduating student from the Presbyterian Theological College of NSW, with his wife Sylvia, was looking for a church. Sylvester’s Chinese heritage, and Sylvia’s Egyptian ancestry, meant they were open to being involved in a multicultural ministry. But Woy Woy, like the Central Coast generally, was predomi-nantly Anglo-Celtic, surely. Or was it?

Woy Woy-Umina in recent years has seen an increase in restaurants of many cuisines and an influx of people from overseas. The dots between the vision, a demonstration of initiative, and an openness to multi-cultural ministry, were joined. The sover-eignty of God was experienced in a very practical way.

In August 2013, after some training with Aussie ESL’s Judy Rowlands, with the sup-port of the session and congregation, Woy Woy Presbyterian began ESL Conversa-tion Classes on Tuesday mornings within school terms. Now the ministry has grown

to include even-ing classes on a Wednesday.

In fact, in just over two years, 25 na-tionalities have been represented by students attend-ing Woy Woy Pres-byterian Church’s English as a Second Language Conver-sation Classes. (The students have come

from Europe, South America, the Middle East, the subcontinent, and Asia!)

Currently a team of twelve share the min-istry, originally co-ordinated by Gordon Goodman and now by David Green. This includes group leading, assisting, public-ity, morning teas, enrolment and finance. Classes are at three different levels (av-eraging 6-7 students per group), with an overall theme of “Conversation, Culture and Christianity”. All team members look forward to Tuesdays, and enjoy immensely the rapport that has developed with stu-dents. The gratitude shown by the students has been very humbling.

Learning language through cooking – reci-pes, measurements, co-operation in the kitchen, and conversation – was a highlight of the beginners’ group at one stage. All lessons have revolved around the specific communication needs of our individual students, and always included laughter and fun. Often a lesson plan changed as soon as a need was perceived and many lessons included games and singing. A picture dic-tionary proved invaluable.

The language of introductions, apology, in-vitation, agreement, disagreement and de-scription, along with the use of tenses, are some of the topics addressed with the mid-dle group. By request, they have learned a little Australian history and culture and they have shared their own. They have: ex-plored the reasons for our public holidays and celebrations, learned about places of cultural and historic interest; and looked at the local area and beyond, while develop-ing their English language skills.

The more advanced group has concentrat-ed on developing skills in pronunciation, conversation and comprehension, through reading articles from ESL-designed texts and digests, and writing. They have also explored with laughter those uniquely Australian sayings that defy translation. All the while the leaders endeavoured to remind themselves of Judy’s words - “less of us and more from them” - to keep the conversational emphasis of the lessons.

The Desire of Our Heart: ESL ministryBy Judy rowlaNds

From the PWAwith BarBara clarK

The Bible is a reassuring positive reminder of God’s love for the world and His involve-ment in it. At the heart of it is Jesus, who tasted many of our human experiences. He was being neither naive nor reckless when He told us not to be anxious about tomor-row, for tomorrow will look after itself (Mat-thew 6: 34).

He was simply reminding us of the unique-ness of time, of each minute, hour and day. We should not waste it by futile, idle worry, or hasten its hours by anticipating what the next day will bring.

The cooler days and shorter hours of day-light have not dampened the enthusiasm of our PWA ladies.

All Standing and Special Committees have held their Annual General Meetings. Plan-ning is in earnest for Rallies, Annual State Conference, Federal Conference and An-nual Market.

The PWA Bible Study Camp, held at For-ster in March, gave valuable understand-ing of Paul’s Letter to the Colossians and of the need to acknowledge God’s love with thanksgiving and praise, and to pray ear-nestly for God’s message of salvation to be proclaimed.

Martin Luther King once said “We have learned to fly like birds, and swim like fish, but we have not learned to live like brothers.”

To live as brothers and sisters in a world in which we acknowledge one God and Father is the highest ideal and it brings with it, the surest hope, that of eternal life with God.

* Barbara Clark is PWA State President

Hymnfest at MosmanScots Kirk Presbyterian Church, Belmont Rd Mosman, will be the venue for a Hym-nfest on Saturday June 4 at 2pm.

The event is being organised by the Mos-man-Neutral Bay Inter-Church Council, comprised of local Anglican, Catholic, Pres-byterian and Uniting churches.

Come along and join us for an uplifting afternoon of praise and thanksgiving, with favourite hymns both old and new.

The afternoon will be compered by Da-vid Garrett, the hymn singing will be led by an ecumenical choir directed by Ga-reth Baard, and accompanied by organ, brass and guitar. There will also be solo musical items. Afternoon tea will fol-low. For further information contact the church's organist, Heather Moen-Boyd, [email protected].

The recent spate of tragic surrogacy stories played out in the media reinforced the need to put a stop to all forms of human surrogacy, according to the Australian Christian Lobby. In its submission to the Inquiry into Surrogacy underway by the Federal Parliament’s Stand-ing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Af-fairs, the ACL said it was opposed to the legis-lation of surrogacy in any form. The convener of the PCNSW Gospel, Society and Culture Committee, John McClean, says there are a host of [good] reasons why surro-gacy is a bad idea. “The only thing the Assembly has said are 1983 and 1991 resolutions against embryo experimentation that might lead to (among other things) surrogate motherhood and human/animal hybrids,’’ he said.

“Infertility is a source of great pain for many couples. “The desire to have children is a basic and God-given one, and every child should be wel-comed as a gift from our generous God. The Bible is very sensitive to the pain of childless-ness, and many stories in the Bible begin with a couple longing for a child; even more include the celebration of a birth.

“However asking a woman to carry a child whom they must give away to another couple places a terrible burden on that woman; and can lead to a host of complications for her, the child and the couple. “Deliberately separating a child from his or her biological parents is at least very unwise and seems to be unfair to the child. If we add into that mix a commercial arrangement, it is unavoidable that the surrogate mother is being exploited and the child being treated as an item for sale. “So there are a host of good reasons why surro-gacy is a bad idea. It would be so much better if adoption was more easily available in Australia.”ACL spokeswoman Wendy Francis said the examples, whether of a surrogate mother wanting to hold on to their child after birth or people who could not get access to the names of their biological parents, resulted in pain and grief for many people. “Surrogacy, even when done altruistically, objectifies children and surrogate mothers and creates lifelong emotional issues for both,” Ms Francis said. “The use of surrogacy is leaving a legacy of damaged and hurt children and mothers. No matter how it is framed, surrogacy exploits women for their eggs and wombs and takes away the rights of children.” The ACL called for the prohibition of sur-rogacy domestically and internationally for Australian citizens and the resourcing of law enforcement. “The only thing a new-born baby knows is her or his mother and this bond should not be severed unless absolutely necessary,” Ms Francis said.

Surrogacy is “a bad idea” By KareN forMaN

All ordinations are special, but when Graham Barnes was or-dained and inducted to the charge of Walcha by the Pres-bytery of New England recently, there was an interesting quirk.

Graham’s dad Peter – our own Pulse col-umnist Rev Dr Peter Barnes - was the preacher for the occasion!

Without detracting from the poignance of the occasion, Peter couldn’t resist a wry grin and a smart quip.

“I could say that I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to lecture him and lay hands on him,’’ he said.

“Obviously I was pleased and thank-ful to God, and trusting that the Lord does a work of grace amongst His peo-ple in Walcha.

“Also, the occasion was added to in that my third son, Luke, and his fam-ily were also there. Luke played bass and played guitar or flute, and thank-fully Graham did not play anything (family joke; a constant stream of B flat lacks something).

“Seriously, it was a privilege for me, and a testimony to the loving kindness of the God of Psalm 103.’’

Graham had been working as a high school teacher; his wife Karen in events management for the State Government, when he decided to study ministry.

“Initially, I was struck by Revelation 7:9-10,’’he said.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, `Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

“There is more to it than that, yet that is where it began many years ago. Beyond

this, the call to full-time pastoral minis-try and ordination was another step alto-gether that involved both an internal de-sire and external recognition from those in the church.’’

Asked how he felt about having his fa-ther preach at his ordination service, Graham offered a similar kind of wry smile to that delivered by his Dad.

“I have suffered a semester of his church history lectures at Christ College and so it was easy compared to that,’’ he said.

“It is not too often that a father is in-volved in the ordination of his son (al-though I spoke with someone last week who ordained his father!), and so it was special in that way.

“His words from 1 and 2 Timothy on pastoral ministry were valuable, in par-ticular, his main point was be a Christian before you are a pastor.’’

So, given his qualifaction as a Rev Dr, his reputation for writing, his role as the founding author of The Last Word in the Pulse since 2008 and his editorship of the AP magazine (Australian Presbyterian – among many other things - is Peter a hard act to follow?

“He knows a lot of strange and obscure people from church history,’’ Graham says.

‘’His study is messier than mine, but I am not far behind him (he once found a Christmas card that had been on his desk for 16 years!). Apart from that, we prob-ably have a similar approach to things.’’

And how is it going so far?

“We have now been in Walcha for four months and are doing well. There has been all the usual ups and downs of church life and settling into a new place. The church here has been welcoming and supportive and we are very grate-ful to them. Fairly simply, in these early months I am focusing on preaching each week and working hard at getting to know people.’’

Ordination a father-son affairBy KareN forMaN


PLC Sydneythe vaLue Of gIrLS’ eduCatIONWIth a ChrIStIaN WOrLd vIeW

AT A GLANCEPresbyterian Ladies’ College Sydney is one of Australia’s oldest and most respected schools for girls. Located in Croydon, it is a day and boarding school for girls from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12. It aims to produce students who are young women of integ-rity and purpose….caring, confident and accomplished young women who can go out and make the world a better place, and life a worthier thing.

When PLC Sydney opened its doors for the first time in 1888, the entire school consist-ed of 39 girls. Today the College is home to almost 1200 girls from just four years old to the young women who graduate in Year 12. Over its long history the College has been transformed over and over again but one thing remains the same – its commit-ment to providing a girls’ education with a Christian world view.

Times change. Education has changed ... and keeps changing. Today’s learning en-vironment tools and opportunities would barely be recognisable to a graduate of only 30 years ago. Change is good, but some things do not – and should not – change. In what turned out to be an unusual opening day ceremony the Governor of NSW in-vited his wife, Margaret Child-Villiers, the Countess of Jersey to make an impromptu speech. The words she spoke were reported around the world.

“To gain knowledge for the mere sake of possessing it is selfishness; to gain knowl-edge for the mere love of displaying it is van-ity; to gain knowledge for the sake of being useful to others is true Christian charity.”

The Countess’ spirit lives on in the Col-lege’s commitment to achieving outstand-ing academic results as well as being a place where each girl is extended to grow into a confident, caring and accomplished young woman of integrity.

Today, PLC’s Executive principal is Dr Paul Burgis who describes PLC Sydney as both a church and a Christian school.

“The use of the word ‘Church’ often re-fers to a school that is associated with the Christian faith, and the word ‘Christian’ often refers to the school that has an evan-gelical basis,’’ he says. “I don’t mind which words are used to describe PLC Sydney.

“PLC Sydney is a school, owned and gov-

erned by the Presbyterian Church, that is genuinely seeking to articulate the Chris-tian gospel in both word and deed: in the ways that we explain the Gospel and the systems and culture we seek to develop. In this way we are a church school.

“Of course people, not schools, are Chris-tians. Neither faith nor hope nor love can be imposed on the human will. They can be fostered. We, however, do humbly seek to structure our school so that it honours the Gospel and fosters young people to love and honour God. In this way I hope we are a ‘Christian School’.”

Mr Burgis believes there is great value in having a girls only school.

“Sometimes I explain to prospective enrolees and their families that men tend to take up quite a bit of room when they sit down on the family lounge. It is a metaphor for what can also happen in the classroom,’’ he says.

“In classrooms boys take up quite a lot of the teachers’ attention. In co-educational settings, girls sometimes suffer in their agency and learning as a result. Girls can allow the boys to control the space.

“In a girls only school they can really have the attention that they need to excel. Effec-tive learning spaces are places where stu-dents are allowed to feel secure and signifi-cant, to focus, to express themselves and to have their learning needs met. At PLC Sydney the level of focus is exceptional. This means that girls and young women do really enjoy school.’’

The Westminster Confession says that the chief purpose of human beings is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. A Christian World View has the Biblical notion of an all-powerful, just and loving Trinitarian God at its heart.

Mr Burgis says the students of a school are to be viewed as made in God’s image, as “marvellous human beings, deeply loved and with inherent dignity’’.

“It is to also be recognised that each needs to learn to tell the truth about themselves – to be able to recognise both their strengths and their flaws.

“At the heart of the Christian World View is that each of us is in need of forgiveness – even at our best we can be conceited and self-centred – and that God acts in grace in Jesus to redeem us. It is a World View be-cause it presupposes a series of significant things that are very important for educators.

“I could phrase these from a theological perspective, emphasising God’s sover-eignty. Here, because we are discussing the experiences of children in schools, I have chosen to make people the ‘subject’ of the next few phrases: human beings have in-herent meaning and value; human beings have personal freedom; human beings can and do make flawed choices; human be-ings flourish when they orient themselves towards God in humility; all life is based on joy and hope; personal integrity and purpose matter, and faith is a valid aspect of human experience.’’

What is the value of having a girls only school within a Christian World View?

Mr Burgis suggests that is a decent question. “Where do girls study theology? I hope the answer is at school,’’ he says. “Girls come to school with all of the questions that boys have: about God, humanity and the troubles they see on the news. Girls want to under-stand as much as they can: why there is pain in the world or, like Micah or Hosea, how to act justly in the world. Girls are keen to learn to serve others and want to ask the challenging questions.

“Girls also believe strongly in fairness and can see that for much of history, women have had it tough.

“Our society has some people within it that disrespect women in horrible ways. In the Christian Church we must lead society in valuing the role of women and girls. As our society becomes more secu-lar it has had a tendency to increasingly atomise its citizens, that is, to encourage

Feature Feature

us to act as if we all only attend to our own interests. As if each of us is a single atom – bereft of meaning. A secular approach to learning, that values personal autonomy over community, can leave girls feeling anxious and lonely.’’

He continues: “Girls and young women are keen to be individuals but also highly value social cohesion, and can be excellent at building groups that work well. There is a fabulous opportunity in a Christian girls’ school to highly value the young women who build our community, to treat them with respect, and to enable them to make a difference. More often than not they are intelligent, thoughtful and generous. By giving them access to the Gospel and to a language that enables them to forgive oth-ers and to love others, by giving them op-portunity to both learn and teach the Gos-pel, we extend the Kingdom of God.’’

The Scots School BathurstOutreaCh INtO the COmmuNIty

AT A GLANCEThe Scots School is a co-educational day and boarding school, rich in what it offers to students at school and the communi-ties it operates within in the central west of NSW. Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 is available at the Bathurst campus with boarding for boys and girls from Year 6. Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6 is available at the Lithgow campus.

The Scots School is a caring school with a broad curriculum and distinctive co-curricular opportunities such as the Pipes and Drums, the School Cadet unit, drama productions, music ensembles, excellent agricultural programs and a wide variety of competitive sports.

The School’s current enrolment is 315. Boarders are approximately 40 per cent of Senior School enrolments. The female to male ratio is very balanced.

The school has traditional Christian values and a modern educational focus. The aca-

demic program offers students a learning environment appropriate to their needs at each stage of their growth.

Enrolments and promotions officer Lynda Ireland describes The Scots School as a community.

“We ARE community. We are part of the community. The community is part of us,’’ she says.

“We need to be in touch and it is impor-tant to shine a light to say that kids who grow up in a Christian surround are clever, capable and can contribute to the community. I think we do that quite well. Our kids go into the world and contrib-ute to the community really meaningfully. We have come from that ethos of a good strong Christian background and a strong community spirit.’’

Students come to The Scots School from Sydney, the central west, locally from Ba-thurst and there are some international students as well. But there is a huge focus on reaching out into the community.

The school has a strong relationship with the local Presbyterian Church congregation.

“We reach out in a lot of different ways,’’ Ms Ireland says. “I guess one of the biggest ways is our Scottish pipes and drums band. We do a lot of community service in pro-viding the band to a lot of functions in the local area.’’

The school band marches at Bathurst AN-ZAC day each year, leading the parade. It recently attended a senior citizens day facility and expected to do seven or eight jobs during the recent school holidays.

The band formed in 1956 and is celebrating 60 years. Around 25 students are involved in the band. It raises our profile and provides a service to everyone in the community.

Pipes and Drums Bandmaster, Mr Gilleion MacKenzie said, “We have a lot on, from the Seymour Centre Aged facility to Ba-thurst Show and Anzac parades at Bathurst and the small community of Trunkey

Creek,’’ he said. “Plus the Bathurst Region-al Council has invited the band to perform for seven minutes at the NRL Panthers-Raiders game to be played in Bathurst at the end of April. This is recognition that the City considers our band as an integral part of the identity of the City and we are happy to be involved in the community to benefit others.”

This year, the school has been busy cel-ebrating 70 years from its formation as Scots College branch school to Scots School Bathurst.

The celebration weekend was held on March 12-13. Highlights included an Old Boys’ reunion cricket game and the Old Girls had a netball game against the first cricket and netball teams. There was also the official opening of the Tim Richards Pavilion on the main oval by Mrs Joy Richards and family in honour of former teacher Tim Richards who passed away in January 2015.

Mr Richards served the school with dis-tinction from 1980–2011. In his time at The Scots School he was a teacher of Sen-ior Chemistry, Head of Science, Boarding Housemaster in Thompson House, First XV Rugby Coach and First XI Cricket Coach, Deputy Headmaster and Head-master from 2008-2010. He was the fa-ther of three children who attended The Scots School.

The project was funded by the Austral-ian Government under the Capital Grants Program, the school Board, The Parents and Friends’ Association, the Old Boys and Girls’ Association, individual and Busi-ness Donations. It began in September and was completed on schedule in February and provides multipurpose opportunity to watch sporting functions on the main oval.

Also popular was the annual Highland Gathering which took the form of a school fete and country fair and included the NSW Pipes and drums Championships and a highland dancing display. The cele-brations will continue with a chapel service on August 28, a blue black and gold ball will be held on November 5.

In the first part of a two part series, KAREN FORMAN reveals the gospel work being undertaken in our schools. In this part, we look at our Assembly schools: PLC Sydney, PLC Armidale, The Scots College, and The Scots School Bathurst; with our congregational schools at Casino, Grafton, Nambucca Valley and Muswellbrook to follow next edition.

Gospel opportunities in our PCNSW schools


Feature Feature

PLC ArmidaleChapLaINCy aNd Sre

AT A GLANCE:PLC Armidale has in 129 years built a rep-utation for consistent academic achieve-ment, an exceptional music program and sporting excellence. It is a boarding/day school based in Armidale that specialises in educating girls to be successful young women and its curriculum is underpinned by a comprehensive pastoral care and chaplaincy program.

PLC Armidale, in strategic alliance with its sister school in Sydney, provides students with many of the opportunities of a larger city school within a smaller school context.

Every girl is known as an individual and has the opportunity to participate in a wide range of programs and activities on offer which build confidence, develop skills and foster personal growth along the way.

The rich heritage of Christian and Pres-byterian Education with its strong em-phasis on academic endeavour and com-munity engagement remains a key focus of the college.

Girls are encouraged to be active partici-pants in the learning journey from Pre-Kinder through to Year 12. A culture of ex-cellence and commitment to learning sees girls strive, achieve and succeed.

Perseverance, enthusiasm and curiosity are encouraged through the breadth of sub-jects studied as well as the extensive co-curricular program.

The commitment to partner with families in the education of their daughters pro-vides a framework to nurture the growth of the whole person - mind, body and spirit.

The academic program, sporting opportu-nities, a sequential outdoor education pro-gram and an emphasis on pastoral care are the means by which this holistic approach is undertaken.

Students of the College actively participate in programs such as the Duke of Edin-burgh’s Award, overseas service learning trips, and school exchange experiences de-veloping an informed global perspective.

PLCA has a major focus on Christian mis-sion in the junior school, providing a full time chaplain, Jan Leahy, who also teaches Christian Studies (SRE) to all students.

“I see my job as a privilege,” she says. “I am still a teacher, but have the privilege of speaking the truth of the Gospel to the girls and who they are in God and the value he places on them.

Jan teaches around 100 students from the junior school, pre kinder to year six attend a chapel service in the Astra Art Centre each week.

“It is beautiful to see the pre kinders and year sixes in the same place, do-

ing something that engages each age group,’’ she says.

“How it works is that I or the head of junior school welcomes students, then we have a song, then Bible teaching time follows. Sometimes this can be a game or a video. Bible reading, prayer, song to backup and reinforce what we have taught. We do the presentation of certificates then finish with a song. Parents are welcome to attend and see what we do.

“We have just finished a series in Mark’s Gospel called Meet The King, to see that Jesus really is the promised King, in the lead up to Easter.

“Next term we are looking at friendship and what God has to say about how we conduct friendship, kindness, forgive-ness and living a life in relationship to other people.

“Two year six girls are rostered on to help with song actions and Bible reading and prayer. I speak to them during the week, have a practice.

“The students are engaged and keen to be there. I enjoy seeing them sing and enjoy being in Chapel. I am the only Christian Studies teacher in the school, so I get to follow up in the classroom as well, clarify, link and remind.”

Each class gets Christian Studies class once a week.

Jen also spends equal time in the senior school.

In her ninth year as chaplain for the whole school, Jen sees her role as an amazing opportunity to open the Bible with the students each week. Being a smaller student group, she gets to know them well enough to be able to speak to the situation and be there to support and encourage them.

We have boarders’ chapel each Monday night as well, and get to know those girls very well.

The Chaplain has a pastoral role across the school - oversee chapel services, organise camps, go on a service learning trip to Thailand for years 10 and 11.

The Scots CollegemISSION, ChapLaINCy aNd Sre

AT A GLANCE:The Scots College is a distinctive all-boys prep, primary and secondary boarding and day school that exists to inspire boys to learn, lead and serve as they strive for excellence together. Strong and positive values are important to the college, which aims to build a culture of respect in its community towards God, others, self and the environment by aligning its policies and practices with Christian principles. Particularly, it has a strong focus on mis-sion and chaplaincy.

With a long history (since 1893) of edu-cational excellence and a prime location in eastern Sydney’s picturesque and af-fluent Bellevue Hill, the PCNSW owned The Scots College has a bit of a reputation for being a school for the children of rich parents who will move into highly paid professional jobs as politicians, doctors and lawyers and forever have the world at their feet. While it cannot be denied there is in part some truth in that assertion, time spent with the school’s senior chaplain, Rev Conrad Nixon quickly reverses any pre-conceived notions that that is ALL this school is about.

In fact, The Scots College is so much more than a school providing a top education for high fee paying students. Rather, it is a community of 1900 students aged from pre-school to Year 12 on three campuses including Glengarry in Kanga-roo Valley, from all walks of life, belief sys-tems and socio economic groups.

It is, says Mr Nixon, a community of learn-ers and teachers which places Christ at the centre of all it does. “Scots is a Christian school and our phi-losophy is very much across Christian mission as well as educational excellence,’’ Mr Nixon – who heads up a team of full time, part time chaplains, Christian studies teachers and youth workers – says.

“We have a heavy focus on providing mis-sion opportunities for the whole college community and that includes giving our boys, staff and old boys (former students) opportunity to hear the Gospel and have the opportunity to think about ways to serve Christ. Obviously offering bursaries

so that children from less fortunate fami-lies can attend Scots is an important part of Christian mission as well. “Our ethos is based on a Christian founda-tion and the leadership of the school has a strong Christian focus. We work with a great diversity of families, too. Where boys come from situations where families have no contact with church, there is a great op-portunity for outreach within our school. We have wonderful opportunities to help boys and staff and parents see the Gospel.Our Christian mission is not confined to chapel or Christian studies classes.’’ Mr Nixon says also that Scots has students from a range of different religious and so-cio economic backgrounds. “The vast majority have a nominal Chris-tian allegiance but don’t consider them-selves religious. Some are at Scots because they do have a strong faith. Parents are given a clear understanding when inquir-ing about the school that an important part of what we do is have conversations about Christianity. Our hope is by the time stu-dents graduate they have a much clearer understanding of what Christianity is about and have related that to life.’’ All boys are involved in weekly chapel services, plus there is a chapel service for boarders on Sunday evenings and regular family services. Students have a strong in-volvement in the services; leading, praying and with music. Several chapel bands exist. Plus, all boys attend a Christian studies class once each week. A weekly assembly includes a devotion, hymn, Bible talk and various key messages. There are also a number of other acitivities which boys can be involved with. The Christian Union is a lunchtime aged based group which meets weekly and fea-tures testimonies, talks and mentorships. A boarders’ group meets Monday nights and a Friday night group provides boarders with social opportunites, service activities and get togethers with students from other Christian schools. Mr Nixon is particularly passionate about the school’s mentor program where young boys are matched with older boys and Christian

Old Boys are matched with current students.“The Christian Union hosts an Old Boys’ dinner and invites senior students,” he says. “It is always a fantastic evening.’’

The school’s Christian mission shines through in many other ways. Boys run Bi-ble Study groups and give lunchtime talks to younger boys. Senior boys visit the Prep classes to encourage the little ones. Mean-while the seniors are assisted in linking with Christians through an Old Boys’ net-work at Sydney University. Scots takes a group of senior students to the annual conference of the Evangelical Union at Sydney University, which Mr Nixon says helps to strengthen them dur-ing a vulnerable period of their lives.

The list of Christian outreach activities goes on and on and Mr Nixon is passionate about them all. Regular leadership seminars are run for boys in years 10, 11 and 12, featuring guest speakers. The Christian Union runs an an-nual camp. Boys are encouraged to attend PY summer and winter camps in their hol-idays. Primary schoolers attend camps run by Crusaders. Meanwhile, staff prayer meetings are held once a week, parents’ prayer groups meet fortnightly and a prayer breakfast is held once a term. The school also has a relationship with the Presbyterian Church of NSW (PCNSW)’s Jericho Road program, preparing sand-wiches for homeless people at the Chinese Presbyterian Church in Surry Hills on a regular basis and helping assemble 80 to 100 Christmas hampers each year. But their outreach isn’t restricted to just Presbyterian initiatives. Students help the Salvation Army with its Red Shield appeal and street café and all boys are involved in supporting various groups working with homeless people. Prep students take part in an annual walka-thon to support Christian schools in India, while the senior school has been in rela-tionship for the past four to five years with two schools and two churches in Vanuatu. Each year, students from years 9, 10 and 11 visit Vanuatu to teach in the schools

and help with building projects. Scots stu-dents also sponsor some students to attend school and help fund building projects, and provide classroom supplies. “This kind of mission shows the students how blessed we are here and that we want to be a blessing, working internationally as well as within the school,’’ Mr Nixon says. A similar initiative is the indigenous pro-gram the Scots family sponsors and men-tors. As well as undertaking mission itself, the school also offers mission opportuni-ties for students of another ilk – the min-istry. A mission team from Christ College last year visited the school to run a weekly mission, teaching and running chapel ser-vice for the students. There doesn’t seem to be any aspect of school life which isn’t touched by Christian mission at Scots. Recently a visiting Pakistani cricketer ran a program for the school’s cricketers and gave a testimony about his Christian con-version and journey. “We try to show the boys that Christian-ity is not just something on the inside of life, but is part of your life,” Mr Nixon says. “This was an example of being able to use your gift to bless others.’’


Ian Smith is the Principal of Christ College, the theo-logical College of the Presbyterian Church in NSW. He and his wife Jenni are former mission-aries to Vanuatu.

how long did you and Jenni serve in vanuatu?We went to Vanuatu in 1989 and lived there for 6 years. We served at Talua Minis-try Training Centre, the theological college of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu. It was a similar job to what I do now but in a different context.

peter tasker from the Church missionary Society (CmS) once gave you advice that shaped your thinking in a significant way. Can you please share that with us?Prior to training at theological college I was a high school French and Indonesian lan-guages teacher. Jenni and I were in our first year of marriage in 1981. A job came up with CMS in Indonesia to work in a school and we thought that we were qualified and it would be a good fit. We met with Peter Tasker to find out about it. He said “So you speak Indonesian. So do they. Probably better than you. What else can you do?” It really hit me. He went on to say, “You go to this school and you’ll do a great job. But in 10 to 15 years time you’ll come back to Australia and you’ll probably want to go into some form of Christian ministry and you’ll probably go to Bible college and by that stage you’ll have a family and it will be pretty tough. The best thing for you to do is to go to Bible college now. Don’t go and be a missionary now. Invest in the Bible and

see where that leads you.” The next year I enrolled at Moore College.

how did your time in va-nuatu prepare you for the role you have now at

Christ College?If Christ College wasn’t committed

to mission, I wouldn’t be committed to Christ College. I learnt in Vanuatu that a knowledge of the Bible and of theology is much more important than the study of “how to” be a missionary.

I was involved in teach-ing people in a very differ-ent cultural context where I needed to contextualise what I knew but not change the essence of the gospel. Now in Sydney we have an enormous diversity of people from different eth-nic backgrounds. The need for our graduates to have a strong understanding of the Bible and to be able to con-textualise it was laid out for me in Vanuatu.

At Christ College we won’t give up the Bible or theology. It doesn’t matter if you want to be a parish minister or a mis-sionary, you need to know the Bible. The worst thing you could do in preparation for missionary service is to do a skills-based missiological program that sacrific-es the rigour of studying the Bible. When I was in Vanuatu I used all of my theologi-cal education.

how does Christ College prepare people to be missionaries?

Students watch the staff at Christ College. We want to show what we think is impor-tant through the things that we do. Instead of telling people what they should do on the mission field we try to demonstrate in our lives what it means to be committed to mission. For example different members of staff are actively involved in going overseas and helping developing churches. David Burke is often in Timor Leste and I’m of-ten in Vanuatu and I’ve been in India, John McClean has been going over to India and Greg Goswell has been in Africa. We return to College and tell those stories. We train

students from many parts of the world to return to their people and to provide Christian leadership. We do College missions – last year Murray Smith led a team to Japan. We also strongly push the fact that there are local areas of need - New Zealand is one, Western Australia is one. We try to be holistic in our understand-ing of mission so we have

a strong involvement with Compassion and as a College community we support a young woman in the Philippines undergo-ing leadership training. We are constantly looking at ways of exposing students to Majority World thinking through people who visit the College. Our understanding of mission fits under how we understand God’s mission for this world, which is re-ally ‘Christ for all of life’. Geography is not as important as what you will do when you get there. The best way to train people for mission overseas is to invest very, very deeply in the Bible and theology that they might be properly equipped for whatever task they will do.

G,S and C Missions

Freedom For Faith Executive Direc-tor Michael Kellahan says that experience overseas shows there are “chilling changes to other freedoms” when same sex mar-riage was introduced.

Mr Kellahan noted other challeng-es to freedoms that have emerged in recent times including:

•the controversies over the Safe Schools Coalition program in Victorian schools;

•the Tasmanian discrimination complaint against the Catholic Church over its bro-chure, “Don’t Mess With Marriage” dis-tributed through the church’s schools;

•The move to deregister the Sydney Uni-versity Evangelical Union (EU) from the clubs and societies program because EU requires declaration of faith in Jesus Christ in order to be a member, while the executive have to subscribe to a statement of faith.

The University of Sydney Union (USU) and EU - one of the oldest student organi-sations at Sydney - had been in discussions for more than five years when it came to a head in March. The USU says that clubs and societies may not limit membership or executive positions on the basis of “race, gender, sexuality, age, ability, religious be-liefs or cultural background.” The EU ex-ecutive insists that to a Christian organisa-tion, it has to be free to require Christian commitment for membership.

Mr Kellahan says Freedom For Faith exist-ed to ensure there is always space for faith in Australian public life.

Freedom For Faith has advisers from the Presbyterian Church, other denomina-tions, as well as the legal profession.

In highlighting the importance of the po-tential change to the Marriage Act, Mr Kel-lahan said:

“The best protection of religious freedom will be if the Plebiscite or Bill is rejected.

“The experience of the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Europe is that a change

to allow same sex marriage brings chilling changes to other freedoms.

“Once passed, the new un-derstanding of marriage is enforced without much space given for dissenters.

“Even before the Plebiscite has been drafted the Australian Catholic Bishops have been told they have a case to answer for sexual vilification hate speech in Tas-mania. They have been summoned by the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination com-missioner because they taught catholic parishioners and students a catholic un-derstanding of marriage.

“Long before the law censors certain speech, there is cultural pressure to be si-lent, and even a resultant temptation to self-censorship on sexuality and marriage.

“There is pressure to have Christian voices removed from the public square because they are prejudiced. This needs to be called as an anti-democratic move.”

Mr Kellahan said people of all faiths and people of none should be entitled to par-ticipate in our public life without jettison-ing beliefs that are central to their identity.

“That right of freedom to believe and speak and live out one’s faith has proudly been at the centre of our life together for a long time,” he said.

Mr Kellahan says he is honoured to lead Freedom For Faith.

“I had known of their work for a few years but their great work has largely been un-noticed,” he said.

“Think tanks operate like someone a few kilo-metres back from a cliff saying ‘danger ahead – don’t go this way – here is a better path’.

“So we aim to be positive and informed and lead the thinking in this important and increasingly contested area. We then want to deliver that thinking where it can make a real difference.”

Freedom For Faith has appeared before Senate and parliamentary inquiries, made submissions on legislations, briefed politi-cians, and drafted alternate legislation.”

Mr Kellahan said that the legal focus has been broadened so that Freedom For Faith now speaks with Christian leaders in churches, charities and schools, produces media con-tent, networks with lawyers, and promotes high quality academic scholarship in Univer-sity conferences.

“In this, much wisdom is found in old ways of thinking – to recognise that the founda-tional right of a liberal democracy is the freedom to believe,” Mr Kellahan says.

“Christians of all denominations have al-ways been at the forefront of navigating the competing demands of the individual con-science, the state and the church. Today a genuine commitment to religious freedom involves a commitment to true diversity and the encouragement of believers to live out their faith for the good of all Australians.”

Michael Kellahan has been invited to ad-dress this year’s PCNSW Assembly and will speak at a dinner on July 5 organised by the Gospel, Society and Culture Committee.

Mr Kellahan will also be speaking at Free-dom For Faith conference at St Andrews Cathedral Sydney on August 12. More de-tails will be available soon on the Freedom For Faith website.

Religious FReedom A T r i S k i f m A r r i A g e A C T C h A n g e S

m i s s i o n a r y Ta l K w i T h K e v i n m u r r ay

ThaT They MighT Be ProPerly equiPPed

there is pressure to have christian voices removed from the public square because they are prejudiced. this needs to be called as an anti-democratic move.

The head of a Christian think tank has described the potential change to the Marriage Act as “the most urgent religious freedom issue in 2016”.

I A N S M I T H

Mens’s sesh at women’s confercnceAre you interested in Women’s Ministries and helping women of your church run ef-fective ministries?

You are welcome to join a special Men In-cluded session at Presbyterian Women’s Na-tional Conference Friday May 27 2-4.30pm at Scots Church Melbourne

The free session will include a Keynote ad-dress by Nathan and Robyn Campbell and Andrea Pryde from Creek Road Presbyte-rian Church, Queensland and Panel Discus-sion with panel members Robyn Bain, An-drea Pryde, Nathan Campbell, Mark Smith and Douglas Milne.

Panel discussions will include topics and questions from participants. If you would like to raise a question it would be helpful to submit it with your registration.

For more information visit The website wmpca.org.au

Pastoral leaders conferenceA new conference for pastoral leaders will be held on Monday July 4 before the NSW General Assembly and is a day for Presby-terian ministers and elders to feel inspired, encouraged and refreshed.

Speakers will include John McClean, Eu-gene Hor and Duncan Anderson and the

event will be held at Christ College Audi-torium, 1 Clarence Street, Burwood. Cost: $50 for pastoral leaders, $25 for students (includes morning tea and lunch)

Bookings are essential and spaces are lim-ited. For more information and to register, visit www.christcollege.edu.au/refocus

Seeking a facilitatorWomen’s Ministry Facilitator - Ministry and Mission are seeking to raise funds to employ a part time Women’s Ministry Facilitator to support Women employed in minis-try roles and women’s ministry through-out PCNSW. For more information go to womenministry.org.au/facilitator


Moderator M&M

There is no doubt that the years 2016-2017 are shaping up to be significant for Austral-ian Christians.

As I write, the debate around the Safe Schools Coali-tion program in schools has just commenced.

Last year, on behalf of the NSW Council of Churches, myself and two other Christian leaders met with the NSW Minister for Edu-cation regarding the Safe Schools Coalition program. We then made a submission on the Safe Schools program.

In response we received some general assurances from the Minis-ter and he directed us to contact the Federal Education minister. We no longer need to do that as the Prime Minister has initiated a review of the program.

Issues such as the Safe School program are being discussed against the broader canvas of the same-sex marriage debate. Make no mistake: the push for what some call same-sex marriage, is not just about same-sex marriage.

It is a push to move homosexuality from being on the fringe of soci-ety towards being an everyday mainstream lifestyle.

It’s not unusual to hear the claim that opponents of same-sex mar-riage are ‘heteronormative’ i.e. we are trying to impose heterosexu-ality on our nation. The program’s “All of Us” material contains the following comment: “Despite this, young people still grow up in a world that is widely heteronormative.”

Heteronormativity describes a belief-system that reinforces that same-sex attracted, intersex, and gender diverse people are some-how less ‘normal’ than everyone else.” (All of Us, Unit Guide p42).

As the Plebiscite on same-sex marriage approaches the heat will be turned up on those who support marriage as being between a man and a woman.

That will mean that Christians will be told that their opinion is irrelevant and that they have no right to speak.

That is an attack on our freedom to live as Christians in Australia.

How can we respond?

First, we must not give in to fear or despair. We must remem-ber that God is sovereign and therefore we must cry out to him for mercy on our nation.

I don’t think that the outcome of the Plebiscite is a forgone conclusion.

It may be that God in his kindness might spare Australia. Second, we must respond with compassion to those who struggle with same-sex attraction.

They need to know that we are willing to help them face this issue. Third, we must guard against apathy.

I was recently in a forum where the speaker reminded us “The great-est threat to religious freedom is the apathy of Christian leaders.”

But it’s not just leaders, it’s all of us. We cannot afford to be apa-thetic. We must be realistic and we must be prepared to stand up and be counted even if that makes us unpopular.

One way to respond is to engage with groups like our own Gospel, Society and Culture Committee (www.gsandc.org.au) or Freedom for Faith (www.freedomforfaith.org.au).

Groups like this seek to engage policymakers, politicians and others. They do so through submissions to government bodies in an attempt to protect the freedom of all Australians to practise their faith.

This is not a time to be a spectator, it is a time to act — through prayer, being informed and encouraging others to support a Biblical view of sexuality.

Moderator

From the

moderator w I T h R T R E v K E v I N M U R R A y

Moderator

Same-Sex Marriage?i T ’ S J u S T T h e B e g i n n i n g o f S o m e T h i n g m u C h B i g g e r

Church planting and church revitalization are at the heart of Ministry and Mis-sion. We love to see estab-lished churches discover-ing new vitality in places like Tahmoor, Taree and Ter-rigal. We also love to see new churches starting at Albury, Cameron Park, Harrison, Home-bush Bay, Petersham, Rozelle – and elsewhere. Planting new churches and revitalising existing churches is essential to the growth and health of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales. I thank God that, in his wonderful kindness, he keeps on raising up men to head up these challenges. Recently, I spent time with Jeremy Tan, planning for a new church in Green Square. Here’s some background on this project.

Jeremy, tell us a bit about yourself.I’m married to Kezia and we have a baby girl, Jemima. I will complete my studies at Christ College in 2016 and look for-ward to then leading a new Presbyterian church plant.

Why is church planting important?Many people believe that church planting is the most effective way to advance Jesus’ disciple-making agenda (Matthew 28:19-20). To quote just one: Tim Keller said, “The vigorous, continual planting of new congre-gations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual cor-porate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city.”

Can you give us a snapshot of the area where you will be working?Green Square is the area between Sydney city and the airport. It includes five sub-urbs: Waterloo, Zetland, Alexandria, Bea-consfield, and Rosebery. Our focus area is Zetland on the eastern side of Green Square (adjacent to the Eastern Distributor).

Green Square is largely made up of 25 to 34 year old high-income, young professionals, living as singles or as couples without chil-dren in medium to high density dwellings. It is a melting pot of cultural and ethnic groups where, apart from English, the lan-guages most commonly spoken are Manda-rin, Cantonese, and Indonesian.

Green Square is now the fastest growing area in the City of Sydney. By 2030 it will

be home to 61,000 people, more than 40,000 of them moving into

the area over the next 15-20 years. It will also be one of the most densely populated areas of the city with 22,000 people per square kilometre.

Why plant a church in green Square when a number

of churches have been planted there already?Simply, “If 100 churches were planted to-morrow and each grew to 100 people, we would still have a long way to go to engage the 40,000 people moving into the area. We need more churches.”

Our prayer is that under God, Redemption Hill will be the first of many Presbyterian churches planted in areas like Sydenham, St Peters, Tempe, Marrickville, Arncliffe, Wol-li Creek and Erskineville where, currently, there are none.

What’s with the name “redemption hill”?The Bible tells us that when Jesus died on a hill at Calvary, he secured the redemption of all things. Jesus bought back the world that he made good but that had been ravaged by sin. He is now renewing, restoring and re-enlivening it and he invites his redeemed people (the church) to join him in this great project. The name “Redemption Hill” re-minds us that in and through the church we begin to see glimpses of that great day when Jesus will finish what he started at Calvary.

What’s planned for redemption hill in 2016?In November 2015, Sydney Presbytery con-firmed its desire to see a new church planted in Green Square and established a Steering Committee to provide support, planning, governance and organisational functions as we work towards launching in 2017. The Steering Committee includes Eugene Hor (Minister at GracePoint, Lidcombe), Da-vid Burke (Lecturer at Christ College, Bur-wood), David Balzer (Minister at Ashfield), Ian Stenhouse (Minister at Randwick), and Bill Thompson (Elder at Cornerstone).

In December 2015, we had our first vision day where we invited others to come and hear about the vision and consider partnering with us, We had a second vision day in February.

Since March 2016, we have been meeting monthly as a launch team as we gather peo-ple around Jesus and further his vision for Green Square and ourselves. These gather-ings allow us to test and refine the vision, to

pray, and to get to know each other as a team.

In August 2016, we want to start meeting more regularly, building up momentum for the public launch of Redemption Hill in March 2017.

how can we partner with re-demption hill?Redemption Hill is a denominational church plant which means that it does not have a mother-daughter or sponsor church relation-ship with any one church. Therefore we’re go-ing to need help and support from a number of churches and individuals who agree to partner with us generously, sacrificially and joyfully in the following ways:

pray We are looking for 150 people to sign up to our mailing list, receive our newsletters and pray regularly for the new church plant and Green Square. This is the best way to keep updated with what’s hap-pening. Please contact me if you’d like to be included in this.

JOIN the team We are looking for at least 35 people to join us in what Jesus is do-ing at Green Square as we live out our vision of Jesus everyday. Church planting is hard. It will stretch you in every way. But it is excit-ing and important. If you’d like to be part of this with us, we’d love to meet you.

gIve Please consider giving to Redemp-tion Hill, regularly or on an occasional basis as you are able. We estimate that it will cost approximately $142,000 in 2017, $138,000 in 2018 and $143,000 in 2019 to plant a new church in Green Square. The Ministry and Mission Committee and the Botany-Mascot congregation have already pledged gener-ous financial support, but we need more financial partners.

INvIte We’d love the opportunity to tell people in your church about the vision of Redemption Hill.

Share Maybe you know someone who would like to be part of Redemption Hill. Please spread the word and introduce them to us.

COme aNd See Join us for one of our launch team gatherings. Come and see what Jesus is doing in Green Square and what he will do in and through Redemption Hill. And if this is something you might want to be part of, let us know. We’d love to share the dream with you. Please give Jer-emy a call on 0433 066 590 or email him at [email protected] or visit www.redemptionhill.com.au.

a New PresByteriaN church iN GreeN squareBy Bruce Meller with JereMy taN


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• F

RE E P O S T A GE •

REFORMERS BOOKSH

OP

Free postage

for orders over $90

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New Zealand when

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Visual TheologyTim Challies & Josh Byers (Zondervan)In this book, we have made the deepest truths of the Bible acces-

sible in a way that can be seen and understood by a visual gen-eration. We have prepared what we see as a theology of the

Christian life, a book that explains the “now what?” of living as a Christian. It is ideal for the new or seasoned believer.$24.99

NEW

None Like HimJen Wilkin (Crossway)

Our limitations are by design. We were never meant to be God. But at the root of every sin is our rebellious desire to possess attributes that belong

to God alone.Calling us to embrace our limits as a means of glorifying God’s limitless

power, Jen Wilkin invites us to celebrate the freedom that comes when we rest in letting God be God. $17.99

NEW

Living in the Light (Money, Sex & Power) [HC]John Piper (Good Book Company)

Whether we’re rich or poor, married or single, in a position of great influence or not—all of us face temptation in the areas of money, sex and power. They are the dangerous opportunities of our time—opportunities to destroy our own souls, or to experience the true joy of using them for God’s glory. John Piper shows us that when we have the blazing glory of Christ at the centre of our spiritual solar system, the planets of money, sex and power find their true and beautiful orbits.This book is for every Christian and will help you to wake up to the all-satisfying glory of God, and discover what you were made for.

$19.99

NEW

A Great Blessing to MeGrant Gordon (Christian Focus)

The lives of George Whitefield and John Newton, intertwined as this study of a portion of those lives reveals, speak across the centuries to our day.

These two marvelous characters have much to teach contemporary Chris-tians. A great read for both the professional historian and the thoughtful

Christian.$16.99

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The Inerrant Word [HC]John MacArthur (Ed) (Crossway)Exploring key Bible passages, events from church history, common criticisms, and pastoral applications, the contributors in this volume instill Christians with both the certainty and the courage to defend the iner-rancy of God’s Word—the means by which

God has revealed himself and awakens sinners from death to life.

$48.99

The Whole Christ [HC]Sinclair Ferguson (Crossway)

Ferguson shows us that the antidote to the poison of legalism on the one hand

and antinomianism on the other is one and the same: the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom we are simultaneously

justified by faith, freed for good works, and assured of salvation.

$34.99

NEW

NEW02 9

564

3555

refo

rmer

s.or

g.au 140 Albany Road, Stanmore NSW 2048Reformers

Email addrEssEsMR IAN BRUNTONHOME MISSIONARY AT BOWRALE: [email protected]

REV. RUSSELL SMIDTGUNGAHLIN-NEW LIFE PCE: [email protected]

REV. ADRIAN VAN ASHE: [email protected]

ministErs, HomE missionariEs, Etc.REV. CHRISTIE BALZERH: (02) 4307 9431

MR JONATHON WILLIAM BLYTH35 Garland StreetWAGGA WAGGA NSW 2650M/E: remain unaltered

REV. EWEN FINDLAYSON BROWN52 Laycock RoadPENSHURST NSW 2222H: (02) 8033 7207O/E: remain unaltered

REV. DEREK JAN GEORGE BULLEN is mov-ing to Canberra on Wednesday 11th May 2016:-105 Francis Forde BoulevardFORDE ACT 2914M: remains unaltered.

REV. DAVID ELS is no longer a Minister of the

Presbyterian Church of Australia. Please remove his name from The Key on pages 37 and 175.

REV. DR DAVID [LINDSAY] FERRINGTON, Minister Emeritus passed away on Monday 4th April 2016.

MR. DANNY FORDHOME MISSIONARY – ASHFIELD-PETERSHAM PC125 Brighton StreetPETERSHAM NSW 2049M: unchangedE: [email protected]

REV. JOSEPH PARK CHAPLAIN, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL5A Cross StreetCROYDON NSW 2132W: (02) 8382 2157

REV. ANDREW UNWIN25 Loftus Street BEMBOKA NSW 2550

REV. THOMAS WALL was Set Apart 1 Febru-ary 2016 as the Assistant to the Minister at the Chinese Presbyterian Church in Surry Hills.7 Keith PlaceBAULKHAM HILLS NSW 2153H: (02) 9369 7440M: 0418 867 563E: [email protected]

REV. MICHAEL KWOK CHUEN WONG was ordained by the Presbytery of Wagga Wagga and inducted as the Minister at the Albury Presbyte-rian Church on 5th March 2016.

5 Tallowwood StreetTHURGOONA NSW 2640H: (02) 6043 3581O: (02) 6025 1836M: 0414 677 571E: [email protected]

otHErNew Clerks of Presbyteries for:-

Mr Ian ThompsonClerk of North West (NSW) PresbyteryPO Box 612 (Postal)NARRABRI NSW 2390“Brookland” (Home)18424 Kamilaroi HighwayNARRABRI NSW 2390M: 0428 954 822E: [email protected]

Mr John ThomsClerk of Sydney South Presbytery18 Carrington AvenueMORTDALE NSW 2223H: (02) 9579 5628 M: 0402 331 555E: [email protected]

New mailing address for South Coast Presbyterian Church:-

32 Mercury DriveLAKE TABOURIE NSW 2539

A strategically positioned church with a well established Pre School and Families Assistant attached, in a region growing in services, opportu-nity and population. St Stephens Tamworth and Scots Moonbi is a viable church offer-ing an open door for gospel growth after a long term Bible based min-istry. Detailed church profiles and strategic plans for ministry vision are available for interest-ed persons. Contact Rev. Doug McPherson (Interim Moderator) Email: [email protected] (02) 67852320

A new conference for PAStorAl leAderS

MONDAy 4TH JuLy // CHRIST COLLEGE, BuRWOOD booKings essenTial www.ChrisTCollege.eDu.au/refoCus

eugenehor

JohnmCClean

duncananDerson

Presbyterian Church of Australiain the State of New South Wales

Be inspired, encouraged & refreshed as we join together with fellow Presbyterian ministers, elders and pastoral leaders to refocus on our churches.

ref CuS: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

C h u r C h e s

PeacemakingIN MARRIAGE & FAMILy

J U D Y D A B L E R

C h r i s T C o l l e g e

11-15 JuLy 2016 / / F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N V I S I T W W W. C H R I S TCO L L E G E . E D u. Au /J u D y DA B L E R

YEARBOOK & CHURCH DIRECTORY ALTERATIONS

Vacancy: st stEpHEn’sprEsbytErian cHurcHtamwortH


Special Feature: SRE

Special Feature: Py Camping

The heart of any ministry must be the Gospel. There is no denying or arguing the pulsing core of min-istry must be the Gospel. Camp is no different. Whether it is your Local Church Camp or PYNSW’s Statewide Youth Camps, the heart of Camp has to be the Gospel.

The Gospel calls us out of darkness into the light to be in relationship with God, our fa-ther and creator.

PYNSW’s Statewide Youth Camps seek to be relational flowing out of the rela-tionship God calls us into. It’s possible to hold a camp that isn’t relational, it’s pretty easy. However, people often describe PY’s Camps as ‘little glimpses of heaven’ - and it’s true! Sometimes Camps can feel that way, especially when there are 500 people singing ‘Amazing Grace’ acapella in an au-ditorium. Sadly though, unless the entire Camp is built around relationships, often this ‘glimpse of heaven’ stops when you exit the auditorium. For Camp to truly be rela-tional, this ethos has to extend beyond the doors of the auditorium flowing into every aspect of Camp.

Exceptional relationships just don’t hap-pen, it’s not as simple as providing morning

tea for 500 people after they exit the audi-torium. Relationships have to be cultivated, especially for those who are younger. Sure, if you’ve been around a while, you might have the gumption to awkwardly start talk-ing to a stranger over a brownie and coffee. Though if you’re a young person, it’s rare that you’d have the confidence to do this - it’s not very heaven. For most people in that situation, you might be screaming to yourself ‘GET ME OUT OF HERE!’

In the case of a Gospel centred Camp, the relational foundation is already provided by the Gospel, in which we are brothers and sisters in Christ, family by nature. It’s just that we don’t know each other yet.

Every aspect of Camp contributes to the relational culture of Camp. It starts with the Gospel at the core, but practically what does that look like on the ground?

It begins by creating structured intentional opportunities to develop relationships. These are opportunities that force people to interact and engage. A common exam-ple of this would be a discussion group. When you flow out of the auditorium, you split into discussion groups. These groups are already set, leaving no requirement on individuals to make relational decisions at this level. Within the groups, there is an external input to stimulate discussion. It

can’t be relied upon participants within the group to stimulate the discussion. If it is, we enter into the ‘awkward’ territory again. The answer is to provide discussion ques-tions, though not just any discussion ques-tions, but questions that warm the group up then lead them through simple to com-plex discussion. There are questions that engage with different types of people; the talker, the thinker, the drawer, the mover. It’s important when developing relation-ships to realise that people are different.

This is just one example of our relational culture. We also consider activities, meals, free time, cabins, sessions and more in this light of relational camping.

The end goal, though, is to facilitate the proclamation of the Gospel. Within rela-tionship trust is gained, barriers are broken down, and questions can be wrestled with openly and honestly. The Gospel can be honestly and truthfully presented in all its raw-ness.

Sure Camp is fun, and that’s a significant benefit of relational Camping, you end up loving Camp with your friends. How-ever what’s more important, what’s life and death, is the proclamation of the Gospel, and in the case of PYNSW, this is done through relational Camping.

RelationalCamping

SRE is a positive influence that is greatly appreciated by students, parents and principals in many schools across NSW. The over 10,000 volunteers across the State are doing a mighty job forming stu-dents in the teachings of their family’s faith, seeing well over 240,000 students a week in the process.

One of these volunteers is Madeline Christian, a mum of 4 young children, who attends City Central Presbyterian Church in Wollongong. Madeline has been teaching an SRE class for a number of years now in her local school and finds it an exciting and positive experience.

Madeline started teaching SRE when she found out there was a need for it in her children’s school (one of the classes was just sitting in front of a DVD each week as they were short of SRE teachers). With her teaching background and flexibility to teach SRE having young children still at home, she began teach-ing a SRE class. Madeline finds it really worthwhile and a great opportunity for children to hear about Jesus Christ, particularly for many children who may not have this opportunity normally. The children are very responsive to the lessons and she has seen many children grow in their understanding. Madeline has been fortunate to have had the same group of children as they have moved through from Year 1 to Year 4, and has found it so encouraging to see them at different times “click” in their understanding and get excited to hear more and more from the Bible.

Madeline has been able to spend a significant amount of time at the school for her own children, attending carnivals, school activities and serving on the P&C. Being involved in the school at these other times has given her the opportunity to build on relationships with the children outside the SRE class as well as with other parents and staff. Made-line feels she has a good relationship with the school

so the communication channels are open to talk about SRE options when things arise. As well she has been able to build on relationships with other parents more easily as they know she is teaching their children SRE each week.

Each year at Madeline’s local school, as they approach Easter and Christmas, a SRE assembly is held with a guest speaker for all SRE classes combined together. Last year (and again this year), the parents of non-SRE students were given the opportunity to allow their children to join in through a permission note. This year, around half of the non-SRE students went to the Easter assembly.

There is an SRE class in every year in this school (from Kindergarten to Year 6) and each class has about 20 students. The numbers noticeably suffered this year in Kindergarten (about ¼ of last year’s stu-dent numbers) through the old enrolment form for new students, but the school subsequently sent out the SRE Preference letter to all new enrolments in the school. This increased the numbers in kindergar-ten SRE, though it is still lower than previous years. Madeline’s positive relationship and good communi-cation with the school very much helped in this situ-ation, and she is hoping that next year’s enrolments

won’t be affected to the same extent. Her desire is for as many young children to have the opportunity to be part of an SRE class and Question, Explore, Discover faith for themselves.

Madeline wants to encourage other parents to be involved in their local school as they

are able, and to support SRE where they can in eve-ry day conversations. Building on relationships and taking opportunities is a significant part in support-ing and growing SRE in your local school.

Please continue to pray for SRE and the work of many people behind the scenes in advocating for the strength of SRE for this generation and the next.

cHristian srE scHool brocHurEsYou can order copies of the Christian SRE Infor-mation for Families brochure to give out in NSW schools (christiansre.com.au/brochure) for the purpose of informing parents/carers about Chris-tian SRE and its benefits in school. Brochures are available for both Primary School students and High School students and their families.

Suggestions for use:• Provide a supply for school administration to

give out to newly enrolling families.• Ask for permission to display in the school foyer.• Hand out primary brochures at your church

playgroup to parents of children starting at school or high school brochures at your church kid’s club to parents of Year 5 & 6 children.

Building on relationships and taking opportunities is a significant part in supporting and growing sre in your local school.

SRE - a great opportunity for children to Question, Explore, Discover faith for themselves


Special Feature: Timothy Partnership

Special Feature: Metro

Stacey Chapman has been studying with the Timothy Part-nership on a part time basis over the last number of years, and now is work-ing at her church in women’s ministry. We recently spoke to Stacey about her Timothy Partnership experience...

Why did you start studying with the timothy partnership?I started studying through the Timo-thy Partnership back when it was first launched. Studying at Bible College was one of those things that I’d always thought I’d like to do - but it wasn’t realistic for me with four children, and living outside Syd-ney. I felt like I’d missed my chance. When I heard about the Timothy Partnership I thought it sounded like a fantastic oppor-tunity - but not for me! Great for younger people, or Scripture teachers - not for regular middle-aged people like me. But I had a friend who wanted to do it too, and so we started together, and I discovered that in fact it was for people just like us! It is for people involved in ministry in the local church who wanted to be better equipped to serve God and serve others in those ministries. When I started, finishing seemed like a very long way off - impossi-ble even, but my goal wasn’t really to finish, rather to know God and his word better in order to serve him.

What has been your experience of the timothy partnership?I’ve loved studying with the Timothy Part-nership. I think that every subject has been my favourite while I was doing it! At every point I have been surprised by how God has used what I have been learning and growing in, in my day to day life and min-istry. There have been times along the way when life was a little crazy (crazier than other times!), and fitting study in has been a little harder, but I have been enormously grateful to have had the opportunity to study in such a flexible way, that does fit around the craziness of life. I’ve particular-

ly enjoyed listening to the ‘lectures’, getting to know others on the forums, and I know I’ve learnt an enormous amount through the essays and other assessments. I’ve also found it really helpful to have met regularly with a mentor over the last two years, re-flecting with her on my ministry.

Where has it led you now?Half way through last year I had finished the subjects for my Diploma of Theol-ogy, but there was still an elective I really wanted to do. So I made the obvious choice to enroll in an Advanced Diploma, which meant I could keep going just that little bit longer!

you are now working in a church - what is the connection of this with the timothy partnership?This year, I’ve been offered a position on the staff of my church, which I am look-ing forward to taking up soon. I’m super excited (and also very daunted) by this op-portunity, which was certainly not on my agenda when I began studying. I have been passionate for a long time about women’s ministry and seeing women grow in Christ, and for many years have been involved in it in a voluntary capacity. Doing the Timothy

Partnership study has given me the oppor-tunity to do that in a more formal way, and I’m very thankful for that.

the timothy partnership is com-mitted to ‘equipping every Chris-tian, everywhere’

You can obtain an Australian College of Theology approved Diploma, Advanced Diploma or Certificate from home, while experiencing the support of a connected, online learning community.

Why choose theological Study on-line with the timothy partnership?

1. It’s flexibleYou choose how to structure your week, without having set times for lectures or tutorials. You can also choose how many subjects you wish to undertake at any one time. This allows you to fit your study around work, family, church or other com-mitments.

2. It’s collaborativeYou don’t learn on your own. You learn alongside others who form your online learning community. You also receive the collective expertise and experience of edu-cators from both Anglican Youthworks College and Presbyterian Youth. As well, you are encouraged to undertake men-toring with your local church throughout your study, to enhance learning and pro-vide practical ministry experience. We support and equip your church mentor throughout.

3. It’s contextualRather than move away from your local church and church community, study on-line means you can continue serving lo-cally, and see your learning brought to life in the context of your real-life experiences.

4. It’s cost-effective

There are no relocation, accommodation or transport costs when you study online. You also have access to government sup-port, such as AUSTUDY and FEE-HELP.

5. It’s compelling

It’s distance education done well, with bal-anced content, engaging audio resources, interactive online discussions and real-life application for your individual ministry context.

for more information on studying with the timothy partnership please visit timothypartnership.com.au

I recently had the privilege of giv-ing two Bible talks at the METRO conference. METRO is about serv-ing God through being an ap-prentice in Christian ministry. It is a ministry apprenticeship where a trainee is trained by a mature Chris-tian trainer, for Christian ministry. But of course, the idea of Christian discipleship applies to the whole church throughout the world not just to METRO trainees!

To understand what Christ calls us all to do as we serve him in this world, we can look to the great commission in Matthew Chapter 28.

Matthew 28:16-20: Then the eleven disci-ples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have command-ed you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This is what Christ calls us to do. We are all called to fulfill his great commission. The great commission is that we should go and make disciples! But what is a disciple and how do we make one?

In January this year, while recovering from an operation, I decided to watch the Star Wars trilogy (Episodes 1, 2, and 3) on DVD. As I watched the trilogy, one theme that struck me was that of what is called “the Padawan learner”. Let me explain …

In Star Wars, a Jedi Knight is like one of the knights of old. They are professional peace keepers and they are warriors who

are the guardians of the universe. They are very experienced and very trained. But in the story of Star Wars, each senior-Jedi has what is called “a Padawan learner”, that is, a young person that they are mentoring to become a Jedi. Each senior-Jedi has a dis-ciple. The Padawan learner followed the Jedi everywhere he went. The Jedi would train the Padawan learner. It was a mentor-ing relationship. There was a trainer and a trainee. The Jedi would share life with the Padawan learner and teach the Padawan learner how to be a mature person.

And so it struck me as I was watching these Star Wars movies, is this not what disciple-ship is all about? We can be encouraged that this idea did not originate first from George Lucas (the director of Star Wars) but actually it came first from our Lord Jesus himself. Jesus commands his church: go and make disciples. Find a Padawan. Make disciples and train them to be ma-ture Christians. The big challenge for us from the great commission is that Christ calls us all to be disciple-making disciples. That means, invest your life into someone. Train someone in Christian ministry. Dis-ciple someone in the Christian faith. Pour your life and your faith into someone else so that they can grow as Christ’s disciple. Christ calls us all to be disciple-making disciples. Now there will be all manner of problems or hurdles for us to overcome with this command. But what we really consider as important, indeed, we will at least try to make it happen.

So how does this apply to our ministry? Briefly I would suggest two things. If you are someone who is already a disciple-maker, then how this applies is to keep up the good work! Disciple-makers are en-couraged to keep up the good work and keep discipling as you fulfill the great com-mission. Keep up the good work! On the other side of the coin, if we haven’t been discipling, or if we have faced some hurdles in our discipling efforts, then how this ap-

Study anywhere, anytime!

MINIST

RY EQUIPPINGTRA

ININGANDREC

RUITING

“In his great commission Christ calls us all to be his disciple-making disciples.”

FInd a Padawan!

plies to us is that we must shift the way we operate in order to be faithful to the great commission. Christ is calling us to be a disciple-making disciple, so it may be that as we read this article we realize we need to change. Thus, to shift the way we operate in order to be faithful to the great commis-sion. In his great commission Christ calls us all to be his disciple-making disciples. This is real authentic ministry, and there is none better. Let us pray for each other as we seek to be faithful, through the grace of God, to fulfill his great commission.

. . . . . .

JESSE HuCKEL Minister of Griffith

Presbyterian Church

at every point i have been surprised by how god has used what i have been learning and growing in, in my day to day life and ministry.


UPDATESJAPAN: THE NEXT STEPSJohn and Rosemary Evans and family recently returned to Japan aft er 5 months home assignment in Australia. Th ey now enter a particularly exciting phase of their ministry as the groundwork of the last few years begins to come together.

Th e task now is to assemble the Chiba City church planting team. It is hoped that within two years they will begin to meet as a church. Th e team includes Adam and Helane Ramsay (APWM/CMS) and Matt and Carly Chase (Mission to the World). Please pray for the Evans family that they will know God’s sustaining hand as they transition back into life in Japan.

Nathan and Tomoko Stewart continue to develop their partnership support and have recently been visiting churches to speak about ministry in Japan. Th eir plan is to help a Japanese congregation in Osaka reach out to people through English language ministry. Th eir current support level is at 50%.

APWM is planning to commission them on Sunday 23rd October if their support level is near 100%. If you would like to have them speak to your congregation then please contact Nathan on 0422 853 800 or [email protected] or fi [email protected] or use the form on the last page of this newsletter.

MARTIN EAGLE

In January-February Martin was in Australia to attend the Wycliff e six week Summer School and have a brief holiday. Martin will next be in Australia in February 2017 for home assignment. Martin’s support account needs extra pledges to enable him to return to Myanmar aft er home assignment.

THE BuRDEN OF LOVE

It was with great joy that Lauren Crase was recently commissioned for service in Timor Leste at the Browns Plains Presbyterian Church. Part of that joy sprang from the fact that Lauren grew up in the congregation and is the fi rst person to be sent out by Browns Plains as a cross-cultural missionary.

During the commissioning, hands were laid on Lauren. She later commented “Th ose hands were heavy but I thought ‘Th is is a burden of love’”. Lauren will be serving in a remote area in Timor Leste through outreach, discipleship, teaching English and in healthcare. Lauren left Australia for the fi eld in early May.

Lauren has served in remote Timor Leste on three previous occasions but this time will be located there for two years. Please pray for God’s wisdom as she settles into ministry.

POSITIONS VACANTteacher of English for academic purposes - talua, Vanuatu

Oversee development of the Foundation Year and Bachelor of Ministry students’ academic skills, particularly in the area of English.

Qualifications•aloveforJesus•atleastoneyearofBibletraining(longtermapplicants)•wherepossiblerelevantEnglishasaForeignLanguageteachingqualificationsand/orexperience•flexibilityandpatience.

primary and secondary teachers - EthiopiaSIM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia needs 24 teachers in its mission school. Such a school enables missionaries to stay on the fi eld instead of having to return home for the education of their children.

Qualifications•aloveforJesus•academicqualificationsappropriatetotheareabeingtaught•professionalaccreditation.

theological lecturer - talua, VanuatuFull-time lecturer needed at the Talua Th eological Institute, the Bible College of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu.

Qualifications•aloveforJesus•academicqualifi cations - either a Bachelor or a Master’s degree in theology

Please contact APWM for more information.

please note that all positions require the raising of partnership support.

BMin students at Talua

Martin Eagle

Nathan & Tomoko Stewart and family

Lauren Crase

John & Rosemary Evans and family

Aus

tral

ian

Pres

byterian

World

Mis

sion

T h e Au s t r a l i a n P re sby t e r i a n Wo r l d M i ss i o n e x i s t s t o g l o r i f y G o d by f a c i l i t a t i n gt h e s p re a d o f t h e g o s p e l t o p e o p l e ove r se a s a n d A b o r i g i n e s w i t h i n Au st r a l i a .

Australian PresbyterianWorld Mission

www.apwm.org.au 81 Shaftesbury Road, Burwood NSw 2134 (02) 8073 7490 [email protected]

In March 2015, Cyclone Pam hit the nation of Vanuatu. Cyclones are a regular feature of life in Vanuatu but this was the most intense cyclone the South Pacifi c has known in living memory. Th ank you to the members of the Presbyterian Church of Australia for your extremely generous donations for our brothers and sisters.

Some of the money was given immediately to the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu to meet urgent needs. In consultation with the Church the rest of the money is being used for relief projects such as:

•repairs to Church-owned school buildings

•replacement of buildings that were severely damaged

•repairs to Church buildings

•vouchers to enable pastors to re-stock their library. At last year’s Assembly book vouchers were distributed to Presbyteries to enable them to select books sent from the Presbyterian Church of Australia and some ordered from the USA.

•the reprinting of the New Testament owing to the fact that many were damaged or destroyed by the cyclone

•fees for students at Bible Colleges who came from the islands most badly aff ected by the cyclone. Such students rely upon family income from the family farm or business but these were oft en severely aff ected by the cyclone.

Owing to the scale of the disaster and the shortage of building materials, these projects have taken some time to be completed and we are only now receiving photos. Th ank you very much for your generous partnership!

PRESAID AND SANTO BuSH MISSIONOne of the projects supported by PresAID’s Christmas 2015 Appeal was the the Santo Bush Mission’s need for a water pump for its farm and training centre. Located on Vanuatu’s largest island, the farm trains its workers in practical aid to remote villages in Vanuatu. In addition the training centre will be training people from these villages in practical skills such as carpentry.

Th e Santo Bush Mission is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu and is led by missionary Tueni Wan from New Zealand. Tueni is a man full of vision and enthusiasm for the growth of the gospel in Vanuatu.

APWM greatly values the partnership of PresAID and the generosity of those who gave toward the water pump.

Jonathan Tarip from the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu hands vouchers for theological books to the Clerk of the Southern Islands Presbytery.

Students from Southern Islands Bible College located on Tanna, which was severely affected by Cyclone Pam.

Southern Islands Bible College classroom rebuilt with funds from the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

Meliwo Bible school building paid for by the Presbyterian Church of Australia to replace a building destroyed by Cyclone Pam

Tueni Wan, Santo Bush Mission Leader

Santo Bush Mission Farm Water Pump

CyCLONE PAM: VANuATu ONE yEAR LATER

aFtEr tHis i looKEd and tHErE bEForE mE was a GrEat multitudE tHat no onE could count, From EVEry nation, tribE, pEoplE and lanGuaGE, standinG bEForE tHE tHronE and in Front oF tHE lamb. (rEVElation 7:9)“ “

Special Feature: APwM



Timor Leste: Help NeededSome years ago, Rob Duncanson, the minister at Darwin, asked himself “Where is the nearest Presbyterian Church?” Th e answer was in Timor Leste (East Timor). Th at one question led us to the rich partnership we have today with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Timor Leste.

In Timor Leste we: •facilitate inservice training seminars for pastors, many of whom

have fairly basic training •provide funding for pastors to travel to Synod meetings•provide a grant of $16,000 per year to provide the church with a

guaranteed income to run its basic infrastructure •assist with the translation of materials into Tetum, the

national language. It’s an encouraging relationship as we see lives transformed as leaders grasp the implications of the gospel, fi rst for themselves and then for the people whom they lead and teach.

In recent years our Timor Leste funds have run down a bit. If you feel led to fi nancially help this ministry, then please get in touch with us.

How Does Someone Apply to Serve with APWM?1. talk to their local leadershipTh e fi rst thing is to talk to their minister and church elders. Th ey will be able to help determine if the applicant has the gift ing and temperament for missionary service. Th ey will interview the applicant and if they think they should proceed then they will refer the applicant to the APWM State Committee.

2. talk to the mission agencyWhen someone wants to serve with a mission agency they should begin the application process with the agency, in parallel with their application to APWM.

If they hope to serve with one of the PCA’s Partner Churches, they should contact the APWM National Director to discuss the opportunities available.

3. submit the apwm application formsApplication documents are available on the APWM website: http://www.apwm.org.au/serving/how-do-i-applyTh ere are various application forms to complete both for the mission agency and APWM.

4. meet with the state apwm committeeWhen all of the documents are received arrangements are made for an interview with the APWM State Committee.

Applicants intending to serve with Partner Agencies are interviewed and accepted by the State Committee. A successful applicant is a member of APWM in dual membership with the Partner Agency.

Applicants intending to serve with a Partner Church are interviewed by their APWM State Committee, and aft er that by the APWM National Committee.

Once someone is received as an APWM missionary, Presbyterian congregations are encouraged to get behind them in raising prayer and fi nancial support to enable them to go to the fi eld to which is God is leading them to serve.

Supporting the Gospel in MyanmarAPWM supports the Evangelical Reformed Church of Myanmar through sponsorships provided to students at the Church’s theological college (Reformed Bible Institute) and also to pastors who work in rural regions of Chin State in north-west Myanmar. Students train at RBI in Yangon, and many go on to serve the church in Chin State once they have graduated. This year the sponsorships will be $500 per student, to be given before June. If you would like to support the Myanmar church in this way please contact Sheryl Sarkoezy in the National Office for more information.

Rob Duncanson and a member of the church in Timor Leste

Alex Kowalenko serves with European Christian Mission in Portugal

Students from the Reformed Bible Institute, Myanmar

New APWM Directory 2016-2017Th e 2016-2017 APWM Directory is now available. Th is provides information on all our current APWM missionaries and is a great resource for prayer. Th e Directory has been sent out to congregations and more are available by contacting the APWM National Offi ce. Please note that a digital version is not available because of security issues.

Meal for MissionEach year we encourage congregations to hold an annual ‘Meal for Mission’ as a way of raising awareness about overseas cross-cultural mission and as a means of providing fi nancial support for APWM’s overseas projects. We encourage you to choose a country from the list that can be found at www.apwm.org.au/partner-churches

Th ere you can download information sheets about each of our Partner Churches. Please encourage those in the congregation to give the cost of one meal toward the work of overseas mission.

Email updateEvery two months the APWM National Offi ce produces ‘Email Update’. Th is provides two months of prayer points for APWM missionaries all around the world. If you would like a copy sent by email then please send an email to Sheryl Sarkoezy [email protected] or phone Sheryl on (02) 8073 7490. Please provide the name of your minister so that we can check that you attend a Presbyterian Church.

For security reasons we do not make this available on the internet.

Including APWM in your Will If you would like to include APWM in your will, then you may like to use these words as a guide:

“I give to the Presbyterian Church Property Trust for the National Committee of the Australian Presbyterian World Mission [here insert a description of the bequest together with the amount of money or description of property or other gift ] free of testamentary charges and duties for [here insert ‘its general purpose’ or the specifi c purpose you desire] and I declare that the receipt of the Secretary of the Trust shall be suffi cient to discharge to my Executors. ”

Please provide this wording to your Solicitor when seeking advice and assistance in drawing up your will.

PRAYER & FINANCERESPONSE FORMPlease send to: APWM81 Shaft esbury Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Name: _____________________________________

Address: ___________________________________

_________________________ Postcode: _________

Email: _____________________________________

Phone: ____________________________________

Church: ___________________________________

I WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING:Missionary’s Name: _________________________

☐ Please send me the missionary’s prayer letter.

OR APWM ministry in a particular country:

___________________________________________

Please indicate an amount☐ $20 ☐ $50 ☐ $100☐ other $ ________________

Please indicate how regular your payment will be:☐ one-off ☐ monthly ☐ quarterly ☐ half-yearly ☐ yearly

FOUR WAYS TO GIVECheque (made out to ‘Australian Presbyterian World Mission’)

Credit card ☐ Visa ☐ Mastercard

Name on card: _______________________________

Expires: ______ /______

Signature: _________________________________

Date of fi rst payment: ________________________

Direct debitYour account name(s): _______________________

_____________________________________________

Signature: _________________________________

BSB: ______________________________________

Account number: __________________________

Bank name: ________________________________

Date of fi rst payment: ________________________

Direct depositAccount: Australian Presbyterian World Mission BSB: 032-260 Account number: 151207 Please write your name and the surname of the missionary you are supporting in the description box. Please also email fi [email protected] telling us that you have made a deposit and provide the name of the missionary that you are supporting.

Enquiriesfi [email protected] (02) 8073 7490www.apwm.org.au/supporting/fi nance

Alex Kowalenko serves with European Christian Mission in Portugal

Students from the Reformed Bible Institute, Myanmar

national dirEctorKevin MurrayM: 0421 366 720E: [email protected]

FEdEral conVEnErAlex Shaw T: 0403 778 151E: [email protected]

www.apwm.org.au

statE conVEnErsQLd Kim Dale E: [email protected] Robert McKean E: [email protected] Douglas BennettE: douglas_bennett@wycliff e.org.autaS VacantSa Gary Ware E: [email protected] Darrell Th atcher E: darrell_thatcher@wycliff e.org.au

national oFFicE81 Shaft esbury Road, Burwood NSW 2134 T: (02) 8073 7490Sheryl Sarkoezy E: [email protected]•BruceCampbellE: fi [email protected]

AuSTRALIAN PRESByTERIAN WORLD MISSION

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☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐


L A S T w O R D w I T H p E T E R B A R N E S

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anx-ious about anything, but in every sit-uation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’’ Philippians 4:5-7

In 1947 WH Auden wrote a book-length poem which described mod-ern society in terms of 'the age of anxiety'. Certainly, it is one of the obvious characteristics of our age.

People talk about the rat race and road rage, and lament that despite all the mod-ern conveniences life does not seem to be any easier than it was without them. All the world de-sires gentleness and peace, but the more it seeks these goals, the further away they seem.

GeNtleNess Because the lord is NearPaul writes: ‘Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand’ (4:5).

The word translated as ‘reasonableness’ in the ESV is variously translated: 'moderation' (KJV), 'forbearance' (RSV, H. C. G. Moule), 'big-heart-edness' (William Hendriksen), 'sweet reasona-bleness' (Matthew Arnold’s famous expression), ‘gentle spirit’ (NASB), 'gentleness' (NIV, NKJV, NRSV), ‘patient steadfastness’ (Peter O’Brien) or 'leniency' (Luther).

Bishop Handley Moule says that the idea is 'yielding-ness' – which is strange English but the right idea.

Aristotle contrasts this with strict justice, which no doubt is behind Luther’s comment that ‘The most extreme justice is the most extreme injus-tice.’ Lloyd-Jones says that this gentleness is more difficult to do than to rejoice. That may or may not be true for you, but it is certainly true that there is to be joy in our self-control and gentle-ness. There can be no resentment but only joy that we are following the Lord's will.

This gentleness is to be extended to all, not just to those we find it easy to be gentle with, and not only to Christians.

In all our relationships with people, whether they are Christians or not, whether they are reason-able people or cantankerous and ill-tempered, we are to be gentle (see Rom.12:17-18).

Being firm is commanded (Phil.4:1), but not be-ing abrasive. We are not to be imagining slights and harbouring grudges, and busy devising rea-sons why we cannot have much to do with this person or that person. There is a great difference between being firm and being unreasonable. The Christian is to reflect the character of the Lord Jesus Himself (2 Cor.10:1).

The motive which drives the Christian is that ‘the Lord is at hand’, which is a distinctly Christian motive.

By definition, the Christian believes it, the unbe-liever does not. Paul could mean, as Ben Wither-ington III says, that the Lord is close and watch-ing us. Psalm 145:18 assures us that ‘The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.’ Because the Lord is near us, we can

be strong enough to be gentle.

Don Carson, however, confesses to be ‘not quite certain’ what ‘the Lord is near’ means.

It is possible that Paul could mean as the Good News Bible has it: 'the

Lord is coming soon'. James 5:8 could be cited in its favour. Hence J. B. Lightfoot

writes: ‘Bear with others now, that God may bear with you then.’

Both views make sense and it may be that both are intended. We are to be always ready for Christ (Luke 12:35-36).

The Christian is grateful for God's past mercies in Christ (Rom.12:1), but also looks ahead to what is coming (James 5:7-9). Why be joyful and gentle? Because the Lord is near - that is both a comfort (as it was, say, to Paul in prison) and an incentive (it would stop resentment, for example, against the jailers who beat him).

Peace throuGh PrayerPaul continues his train of thought: ‘do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all un-derstanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (4:6-7).

If we are evangelical Christians, we have no trouble in saying that idolatry is a sin, and so is blasphemy, murder, adultery, homosexuality, and stealing.

We would also say that there are internal sins like pride, lust, and coveting, so sin is not just what we do but also what we think in our hearts. One suspects that we are not so used to thinking of anxiety as a sin. Yet Scripture says: 'Do not be anxious about anything'

Clearly, this has to be interpreted properly. There is a concern which is right and good. Timothy possessed such a concern (Phil.2:20), as did Paul (2 Cor.11:28). There is a right concern for the welfare of others, a right kind of anxiety which Scripture does not forbid.

God does not commend a lackadaisical approach to life - 'no worries mate, no matter what'. That is the peace of the idiot, who has not faced up to life.

What Paul has in mind here is a wrong form of concern or anxiety, which JB Lightfoot defines as 'anxious harassing care'.

This can choke the Word of God (see Luke 8:14). Martha was weighed down with good concerns but in the wrong way (Luke 10:39-42).

Christ is not saying that doing the washing up is wrong, but that being so concerned with it at the expense of hearing the Word of Christ is wrong. That kind of anxiety is detrimental to faith. Surely Paul is echoing the teaching of Jesus Himself (Matt.6:25-34).

To be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything.

The answer to worry is not grog or popping pills or calming techniques or Transcendental Medi-tation. It is prayer, which is communication with the God of the Bible.

If you find you are meeting yourself coming the other way, the answer is not less prayer, cutting down on meeting with God so that you can con-centrate on more 'practical' activities, but more prayer. With some qualifications, one can cite JA Bengel’s comment that ‘Care and prayer are more opposed than fire and water.’

Notice that the prayer is not just asking for things, even asking for peace. It is prayer and making re-quests with thanksgiving. Gratitude is a feature of the Christian's prayer life (Col.3:15, 17; 4:2).

The Bible always treats ingratitude as a mark of the unbeliever (2 Tim.3:1-2). Whatever we are worrying about at the moment, we ought to start praying about, not in frantic anxiety but in calm thanksgiving.

God’s promised peace is given irrespective of whether the requests are granted or not; the peace is certain, the requests are not. There is a danger here. Everybody wants the peace of God (4:7), but only Christians want the God of peace (4:9). Matthew Harmon puts it well: ‘A prayerless life is a sign of a self-sufficient person; a prayerful life is a sign of a God-dependent person.’

The image that Paul uses is taken from the fact that Philippi was guarded by a Roman garrison (one might wonder: was the jailer in Acts 16 still in the Philippian congregation?).

As the Roman garrison protected the peace of Philippi - or was supposed to - so the peace of God guards the hearts and minds of His people. The peace of God is greater than the pax Romana. This ‘peace militant’, to use Alexander Maclaren’s expression, is beyond our comprehension (see Eph.3:19), but it is real.

Paul is writing here to Christians, to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are common prob-lems, or common sins, to be more accurate – un-reasonableness and anxiety.

Here are God's remedies – remember that the Lord is near and pray with thanksgiving. At-tached is God's promise, that His peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

gentleness& peace

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